Recommend a second hd manuf?

[WrightP]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning ahead for a second drive in a few weeks. Any recommendations? I'm thinking of up to 500GB.

I have used an 80GB Seagate 7200.10 for my first drive. I read the warnings about large drives of this type when used as one of two. Could anyone clarify: can I use my current drive as one of two, if I choose a non-Seagate over 200GB as the second drive?

Also, will cache memory make much difference if a second, or first, drive?

I'd appreciate thoughts. Cheers, Paula.

[petestrash]

We always suggest using a single large drive if possible. TiVo's are very tough on hard drives as they are reading and writing 24 hours a day even when just sitting in standby, so you will get a shorter life from a drive in a TiVo than you would in a PC. Also TiVo's are not very good at mapping around bad sectors on hard drives like PC's do, so bad sectors can kill a TiVo.

If you do decide to use 2 drives, once installed they are married and cannot be easily separated. So if one drive fails, you risk loosing everything on both drives. using 2 drives doubles the chance of having one drive fail.

For the same reason it is not suggested to install a new drive with an old drive, as the old drive is likely to fail sooner then the new drive would.

Unless you really hoard shows a single 500Gb drive should be plenty in an S1 TiVo.

8mb cache drives are fine, and provide a slight improvement in displaying the Now Playing screen over 2mb cache drives. There has not been any reports of improvements using 16mb over 8mb cache drives.

Check this WiKi (http://www.oztivo.net/twiki/bin/view/Install/PrepareTiVoDisk) entry for other information.

Peter.

[Darren King]

In addition to what Peter has mentioned there are two other things:

1. Adding a second hard disk puts more demand on the power supply which may shorten it's lifespan.

2. To add a second drive means you need another hard disk mounting bracket if you do not have one already. Do not simply "free mount" the additional hard disk or use something like Velcro to hold it down because you will one day pick up the TiVo to move it and wonder what that strange "clunk" sound is. By the time you realise what it was it is usually too late as the hard disk has moved, usually right onto the motherboard and in doing so has damaged one of the large chips. Don't laugh I have seen it happen on numerous occasions! :)

[Skolink]

I would recommend avoiding Western Digital 500Gb IDE Caviar Blue 16Mb cache (model WD5000AAKB ), as myself and another guy in Christchurch have both so far been unsucessful in getting the TiVo to boot from this drive. Other people however have confirmed they are using this exact drive in their TiVo, so you could try it.

[petestrash]

Thanks Skolink, the WD5000AAKB is already noted as possibly having an issue on the WiKi (http://www.oztivo.net/twiki/bin/view/Install/PrepareTiVoDisk) link I gave.

Peter.

[WrightP]

Thanks, everyone. Very useful.

So, new plan: switch to a large HD after I have everything working smoothly on the new toy, and before I build up a lot of recording I will miss once I change over.

I'll try to get another Seagate drive, but larger. I will assume that the process will be a fresh set up the same as my first set up (completed yesterday), but easier, since I have ironed out the quirks. :D

[petestrash]

Fresh start is easyist and best.

There are ways to copy the old drive to a new drive, but generally not worth the time and hassle.

Peter.

[Skolink]

According to this thread the problem is with the latest firmware, which would explain why some people have sucessfully used them in the past. No firmware to be found on the Western Digital website.

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=412211

I'll see if I can acheive anything with the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools

The one from Tom's TiVo reports itself as WDC WD5000AAKB-00YSA0